If households are going to be encouraged to recycle more by the council introducing smaller wheelie bins, then maybe the council could look at how it deals with its own office waste and show us the example it is setting.

In the city council office where I work, there is no recycling of food waste at all. Teabags, banana skins and apple cores could all easily be collected separately and used for compost; instead, they go into the general waste bin. If a household did that, they'd be fined or have the collection stopped.

I suggested to the council that offices could have a separate bin for compostable waste, but this hasn't happened. A recent report in The Guardian suggests that food waste accounts for five per cent of UK greenhouse gas emissions. Compostable waste could either be taken home by "green-fingered" staff, or set aside for allotments.

Most of us will be in favour of greater recycling and will learn to live with smaller bins, but we need to know that our council – funded by our taxes, acting on our behalf and setting rules for us all – is leading by example. Changing behaviours is best done by example and deeds, not by diktat. The council needs better habits.

Council employee,

Name and address supplied.

● BRISTOL announcing that it may reduce bin sizes gives me cause for concern. Being single I do not generate lots of waste, which means that on the day of bin collections my bin is probably at a quarter to a third of capacity.

My issue is that on the eve of bin day, when my bin goes out at some time between dusk and dawn, my bin suddenly becomes full.

Yes, a magic bin fairy comes and fills my bin up.

So I say yes to smaller bins but I urge that the habit of dumping rubbish in other people's bins should be stamped out.

Name and email address supplied.

● SHRINK our bins? You must be joking, we are a family of four and we just about manage with a fortnightly collection.

This week, when we went out to bring it back in, we found it had not been emptied and a sticker on the top saying our bin was too heavy. There was no advice on what we should do with our rubbish for the next two weeks, or the rubbish actually in the bin.

As the lady of the house weighing nine stone, I managed to put the bin out there and, unless I am mistaken, the vehicle that collects the rubbish has machinery that lifts the bins to empty them.

This leads me to the question of how we would manage if the bin was smaller. Well, firstly, the council should let everyone who wants a small bin have one, then encourage people to recycle better in exchange for council tax rebates, common sense surely, but as we all know these days, common sense and Bristol City Council do not go hand in hand.

Sharon Charles,

Ashton.

● THE quote in your headline "we're going to shrink your bins" is unattributed. Who said this? Did anyone say this? Is it more ranting from Ian Onions?

I am led to assume that Ian Onions is too lazy to be bothered to sort his waste for recycling so he launches campaigns to rubbish – pardon the pun – any attempts by local authorities to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

This totally biased form of reporting – only members of the public who agree with him are to be quoted in the article – is a campaign to promote his anti-social attitudes.

The cost of sending waste to landfill is something that affects us all and schemes to reduce the amount of waste should receive proper reporting and analysis, not the sensationalist rubbish printed on Wednesday.

Ian Blair,

Yate.

Editor's note: In the context of a story about the council introducing smaller bins, a headline of "we're going to shrink your bins" is reasonable.

The people we spoke to were 100 per cent against the idea but we did give considerable space to the views of the councillors and officers who would be implementing the scheme.